Padres down Dodgers in Ohtani’s return

Manny Machado homered and drove in three runs as the San Diego Padres moved to the brink of their third consecutive playoff appearance with a 5-1 road victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.

Fernando Tatis Jr. had three hits as the Padres (88-70) reduced their magic number for clinching a National League wild-card spot to one. San Diego sits in the top NL wild-card position, one game ahead of both the Chicago Cubs (87-71) and the Philadelphia Phillies (87-71).

Five San Diego relievers combined for 5⅔ scoreless innings. Bradgley Rodriguez (4-3) fanned three in two innings.

San Diego won for the 14th time in its past 16 games while coming out on top for just the fourth time in 12 games against Los Angeles this season. The Padres have never reached the playoffs in three consecutive seasons.

In his return to the active roster after recovering from knee and biceps injuries, Shohei Ohtani went 1-for-4 with a walk as the Dodgers (97-61) saw their 11-game home winning streak end. Ohtani struck out with the bases loaded to end the fourth inning and flied out to the wall in center field in the seventh.

Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernandez each had three hits while Los Angeles ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto (14-9) gave up four runs (two earned) on five hits over six innings but was burned by his own throwing error. Yamamoto fanned four and walked one.

Machado gave the Padres a 2-0 lead in the fourth when he crushed a first-pitch sinker from Yamamoto over the center field wall for his 29th home run of the season.

The Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth. Robbie Ray got Max Muncy to fly out, then was replaced by David Morgan after 3⅓ innings. Morgan gave up a sacrifice fly to Edman, cutting the Padres’ lead to 2-1, before striking out Ohtani.

Ohtani appeared to walk on a 3-1 pitch, but Padres catcher Ethan Salas successfully challenged the pitch. Morgan eventually got Ohtani swinging at a 3-2 sinker.

The Padres made it 3-1 in the fifth when Yamamoto was off target on a throw to third base following a bunt from Dustin Harris with runners on first and second. Salas scored on the play, and Machado followed with a sacrifice fly to right-center for a 4-1 lead.

San Diego added a run in the ninth. Samad Taylor walked, stole second and third and came home on a single from Freddy Fermin.